SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the four research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised SJW Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on SJW Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut SJW Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Institutional Trading of SJW Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in SJW Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,202,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $464,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SJW Group by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,465,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after purchasing an additional 78,289 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of SJW Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 84.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SJW Group Stock Down 0.1 %

SJW opened at $52.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. SJW Group has a 12 month low of $51.92 and a 12 month high of $79.48.

SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $171.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.23 million. SJW Group had a return on equity of 7.10% and a net margin of 12.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that SJW Group will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

SJW Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. This is a boost from SJW Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. SJW Group’s payout ratio is presently 59.93%.

About SJW Group

SJW Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in the United States. It operates in Water Utility Services and Real Estate Services segments. The company engages in the production, purchase, storage, purification, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of water and wastewater services; and supplies groundwater from wells, surface water from watershed run-off and diversion, reclaimed water, and imported water purchased from the Santa Clara Valley Water District.